Bios beep codes?

[tony draper]

Major Puter crash last night,machine dead not even able to get into bios,not PSU tried spare power supply all same fans running ext but nothing on the monitor.
Fans start up followed about thirty seconds later by bios beeps
one long three shorts,which according to award bios is video card or video ram,tried spare video card still the same
The machine is a AMD Phenom 3.4 ghz it has 8 gig ram.
and is running win7 64 bit
Any ideas? new motherboard you reckon?
:(

[boguing]

Have you tried it without a video card? Obviously it's not much use without one, but it would be interesting to see what code it then transmits.

[tony draper]

Good idea will try that,
This motherboard,is a Asus M4N68T PRO,it does not have a on board graphic chip.

[tony draper]

Right tried that,same beeps one long three short,took the motherboard out of the case so it was easier to work on,removed memory sticks graphic card,switched on,fusilade of beeps so replaced single memory stick and graphic card and lo it booted up! success!! went straight into repair startup mode,after a while it said it could not repair startup,(buggah)tried spare hard disk,booted as normal,so looks like whatever it was was hard disk related.
thanks for the help/

Just gonna put the machine back together again and operate from the old hard disk, mebee format the win7 disk and reload the operating system.
:)

[boguing]

I really can't see that a drive failure would cause a beep code indicating graphics errors? It would still boot as far as the bios screen with no drive at all.

I'm wondering if it is duff memory. Any chance that you could try a different source for the codes?

[OFSO]

Don't all shout, but a simple fix is often powering down, removing RAM and anything else that plugs in, cleaning contacts, and replacing. Oh and also while you're at it, cleaning crud off anything that gets hot. Lots of interconnect stuff moves slightly as it gets hot, expands, then cools down later, leaving bad connections. Just a thought, Mr.D.

[Saab Dastard]

After following OFSO's advice, try running memtest off a bootable device.

And then run HDD diagnostics (Seagate or WD) again from bootable device.

SD

[tony draper]

Right progress report,before putting the machine back together tried the hard disk one last time,this time no bleeps and managed to get into bios,came out of bios and hit F8 to try safe mode,booted to safe mode,yippee!!did system restore,success!!the Draper home made super puter is all fettled
PS what started all this chaos was summat one has done hundreds of times,there's a couple of USB sockets on the front panel,I unplugged the webcam from one and plugged in a memory stick,everything went downhill from there.
Thanks again chaps,never say die.:ok:

[Sprogget]

Take a close look at the usb pins. If one is shorting across the port, it'll cause the symptoms described. Been there, done that.

[tony draper]

Right then prob tracked down eventually one hopes,put all the kit motherboard ect back into its tin house,all connections made,booted ok first time,then started doing its beep thing again after a few boot ups disconnected the front USB panel that seemed to have started the problem and that seems to have sorted it,looks like it was buggad,finger crossed will run it for a couple of hours and see what transpires.
USB socket on the motherboard seem ok.
poxy puters
:suspect:
looks like you are correct Mr S,tiz a pity handy those front USB sockets

[Milo Minderbinder]

download this memory test tool, boot the machine, set it to run ten cycles and see if it crashes. Its in ISO format - you'll have to burnt yhe CD and boot from that
Download Microsoft Windows Memory Diagnostic Free - It tests the Random Access Memory (RAM) on your computer for errors - Softpedia (http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Memory-Tweak/Microsoft-Windows-Memory-Diagnostic.shtml)
its a memory diagnostic test from M$, Old, but it hammers the memory better than Memtest or Mentest86+ does

[tony draper]

Well the thing is it is chugging along fine now,as if buggah all had happened so I am a tad reluctant to slap it around for now, I shall keep that test in mind though should it commence to work its ticket again thanks.
:)

[Milo Minderbinder]

Just for the record, I went back and looked at that beep code.
It will almost certainly be an AMI code, not an Award one (AMI have controlled Award for the last ten years) and it means faulty memory.
Award codes are hard to ID as they tend to be "custom" bioses for OEM manufacturers and are often tweaked. Don't trust anything written about them!

The original IBM bioses used one long + three short to indicate failed graphcis, but you won't find one of those around now (it referred to EGA graphics)

Reseating the RAM may well be all that was needed. I can't see how the USB port would have caused this error, though it would have other effects

[oldbeefer]

I had a Dell a few weeks ago that wouldn't boot. Turned out that was a bent pin on the front USB. Straightened it out and Bingo -all OK again.

[hellsbrink]

If your puter has AMI bios, then the issue is a problem with the memory as it has failed the POST memory test.


Decode your beeps here:- AMI Bios Beepcodes (http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/amibeep.htm#)

[tony draper]

Thanks Mr H will add that to me bookmarks,strange this, nowhere in the MB manual(a rather skimpy affair) does it mention what version of bios the board employs not on the box the MB came in nor is it to be found stamped on the bios chip or writ elswhere on the board.
:confused:

[mad_jock]

It will come up on the boot pre loader. Most of them these days you have to press esc or somthing else to get rid of the manufactors screen.

[Milo Minderbinder]

oldbeefer
a shorting/earthing USB pin could stop a machine booting, but it won't generate that particular beep code

[oldbeefer]

MM - very true, but I posted for interest.

[green granite]

USB data pins are held down to 0 by pull down resistors, if one of the pins shorts to the +5Ve this will pull it up and cause a stuck bit on the data highway so I would suspect the error code would depend on the order in which the checks are done by the bios.

[mustpost]

Glad to hear FSL's super puter OK, but while we're on the subject of boards/cards, OFSO mentions cleaning things. Here's my problem- Nvidia gforce video card with twin outputs - one of the display resolutions is now noticeably degraded/different. Simply take it all apart, re-assemble?

[Sprogget]

Well, it couldn't hurt. Also worth updating the driver, which Nvidia frequently revise, mostly to cope with games, but on occasion to fix things.

For avoidance of doubt, I advised a look at the USB ports, since the symptoms matched a fault I experienced. What I didn't do is state that was the definitive answer to the problem. Let's keep things in perspective.

[boguing]

Mustpost.

I wish that it was that simple.

Multi monitor output gave me no insolubly problems in NT4, Win 2000 or XP.

Whole 'nother story in Win7.

I have a minor problem with a main board (and on-board graphics) and a video card to run another monitor. Won't boot.

I gave up on it pre-christmas and need to revisit it shortly. I'll comment as and when.

But. I do think that this is worthy of a new thread.